Abstract

This Podcast features an interview with James Casanova, author of a Research Article that appears in the 2 February 2016 issue of Science Signaling, about a macrophage adhesion receptor that both mediates the internalization of bacteria and stimulates the intracellular machinery that kills them. In addition to cleaning up debris from dead cells, macrophages also engulf and destroy cancer cells and bacteria. The adhesion-class G protein–coupled receptor BAI1 is a phagocytic pattern recognition receptor that induces the internalization of Gram-negative bacteria by macrophages. Billings et al. discovered that BAI1 also stimulated the production of reactive oxygen species, which are important for killing the internalized bacteria. In mice, BAI1 was required for efficient clearance of Gram-negative bacterial infections. Thus, BAI1 is important for both internalization and killing of Gram-negative bacteria.